Notes from Writers Festival

Having missed the Spring 2012 Ottawa International Writers' Festival, it was good to get into the autumn events. Sadly I couldn't make the Ottawa premiere of Midnight's Children (of which have heard only positive reviews!), but started my autumn festival with the All In A Day Songwriters' Circle. Being a relative newbie to Ottawa, I know of Lynn Miles by name but not a whole lot more. Friday 26th was both a celebration of her quarter-century making music and for me, an educative evening as well. A thoroughly entertaining evening with lots of clips from CBC Radio archives, messages from friends and a cross-section of Miles' prodigious output. I particularly enjoyed 'Love Doesn't Hurt', 'Hockey Night In Canada', and You Don't Love Me Anymore', as well as a guest appearance by Sarah Slean performing 'The Right Words'.

Of the New Science series, Jacob Berkowitz' presentation of The Stardust Revolution was really interesting and very accessible (especially? for a Sunday afternoon). Something of an hour's brief history of the universe and the role of stars therein. Parents take note - Berkowitz' children's books (on display in the Writers Festival bookstore) look very, very good. By comparison, Mario Beauregard had a few interesting points but his overall thesis was much more tenuous - and controversial, too, given some of the questions and comments at the end.

My final event earlier tonight was Eschatos, a Live Radio Play by David O'Meara, Ian Keteku, Jennilee Murray, Mike Dubue with Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde on cello. I missed Mike Dubue's last collaboration with Writers' Festival so had no expectation for this evening. Eschatos was brilliant - a series of sketches based on the theme of the apocalypse/ end of the world with live sound effects as well as an interweaving score performed by Dubue and Dostaler-Lalonde. Incredibly atmospheric and lots of great lines - a great event for the final night.

A short outside report from Thursday 25th's book launch of The Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton - an excellent book and a really fun evening, if a little bit strange as most of the audience seemed to be friends of the author. More like a front room than an auditorium but still a really interesting event.

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Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed

New talent at Southminster

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO Sen (The Dream) Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI Lecioły Zórazie (The Swans Were Flying) Ściani Dumbek (The Dark Forest) CHOPIN Piosnka Litewska (Lithuanian Folksong) Moja Pieszczotka

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